Why did Marianne Faithfull’s singing voice change in the 1970s?
Despite her reputation, Marianne Faithfull was far more than just a chapter in the broader Rolling Stones narrative. She might have enjoyed a significant boost of fame and success after her association with Mick Jagger, but her story in the scene started long before her rapture in the hardcore rock ‘n’ roll partying scene that defined the 1970s.
Faithfull’s story often reverts to one specific facet and her prominence from the 1960s onwards, but it makes complete sense why. After all, Faithfull occupied the stage many dreamed of, not only attracting legions of fans who adored her talent but pervading the same spaces other high-profile names ventured into. She started considerably humbly, frequenting coffee shops as the next best folk singer, before a brush with the London party scene set her off on a different, albeit still exciting, path.
Faithfull’s journey took a significant turn in 1964 after attending a launch party for the Stones. Although she went with her then-boyfriend John Dunbar, she ended up meeting the Stones’ manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, who saw the same glint in her eye he recognised from many established stars, sparking a relationship that would lead to her debut single, ‘As Tears Go By’.
While this could be construed as Faithfull’s “big break” for obvious reasons, and one that lit the stage for her to enjoy a series of hits in the moments that followed, standing too close to the fire eventually took its toll, namely in the form of drugs and mental illness. Faithfull’s reputation had skyrocketed the years she was with Jagger, but even after the lights that once defined London’s swinging ’60s dimmed and her relationship came to an end in 1970, Faithfull was left with the aftermath of years-long partying.
So, why did her voice change?
Throughout the 1970s, Faithfull endured a long addiction to heroin and an encounter with laryngitis, heavy smoking, homelessness, and anorexia. Her once-sultry, high-pitched vocals started to become more raw and gravelly as the effects of a troubled life started to set in. The roughness her voice adopted epitomised her 1979 release Broken English but proved an artist at the height of her battle as she leaned into her transformation and allowed it to complement the album’s dark and expressive tone.
Faithfull always had a certain raspiness to her voice in places, but the ’70s shift, though undeniably bleak in its emergence, ended up defining her sound as much as it defined her journey. Though her voice was lighter in ‘As Tears Go By’, Broken English contributed to her broader legacy, proving that life’s harshness wasn’t infinitely destructive, even if it left her sounding heady with tragedy and anguish.
Interestingly, Faithfull would revisit her breakthrough hit for 2018’s Negative Capability, which urged her to tackle some of the most painful moments of her entire career. Discussing the opportunity with Uncut, she noted the difficulty she faced having to address a song that prefaced years of drug abuse and other challenges but found that it was a necessary step to take to honour her wider legacy.
“For a long time, I didn’t really like [the song], actually,” she said, adding, “It seemed to me to be the start of all the trouble, but in fact, it’s a really wonderful song. Trouble? Well, I got famous and I became a little pop star and blah blah blah. It set me off in the wrong direction, also known as drugs.”
